IACSP Member Perspective

Iranian
Nuclear Program Aims for Weaponization and the Destruction of Israel

By Dr. Philip Vos Fellman and Patrick R. Eller

The true and unequivocal intention of Iran's nuclear program is
the weaponization of its nuclear capacity and the concomitant destruction
of the nation of Israel through its terrorist proxies, Hezbollah
and Hamas.

The radical, Islamist terrorist organization Hezbollah has updated
its affiliation classification from proxy to full partner with the
nuclear weapon-seeking Islamic Republic of Iran. Hezbollah's collusion
with another radicalized, Islamist terrorist organization, Hamas,
has increased dramatically in recent years.

Iran's military special-forces, the Republican Guard Corps, is aggressively
engineering and, where possible, purchasing foreign-made ballistic
missiles delivery systems including the solid-fueled Sajjid 2. The
Sajjid 2 possesses a range that is sufficient to reach Israel and
Southern Europe.
What does this mean for the national security of the State of Israel,
the region of the Middle East, America's strategic national security
interests, and the security of American citizens abroad?
Imminent Threat?

Some advocates of paying less attention to these security concerns
argue that Iran is many years away from having the ability to strike
Israel, Europe or, ultimately, the U.S. with a long range missile.
We disagree, considering Iran's successful space program and its
increasing missile range capabilities. At any given time there are
approximately 40,000 American citizens working, studying, and living
within the current range of Iran's missiles and Hamas' rockets.

Missiles with the longest ranges could be bought at any time and
it is not definitively known whether Iran may already have several
of them. Iran has proven over decades, and on multiple occasions,
that it is not a country which displays transparent protocols with
America or its neighbors.

Not much has really changed in the policy and practices of the Islamic
Iranian Regime since 1983. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani represents
a welcome change from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but his more liberal public
stance is still subject to the absolute rule of Supreme Leader Ali
Khameini, who has been in power since 1989. Whether Rouhani will
be allowed to make genuine, lasting, substantive changes, is debatable
given the political matrix in which he must operate and the nature
and span of control between Iran and its jihadist proxies.

Historical Indications
On Sunday, October 23, 1983 a radicalized, Islamic terrorist operative
from Hezbollah detonated a truck laden with high explosives at
the American Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. That day, 241
American Marines were assassinated in their living quarters. The
same day, only moments later, 58 French paratroopers were brutally
murdered as a second detonation ripped into their sleeping quarters
in Beirut.

At this point, the newly organized Hezbollah was still in its infancy.
It is not a deeply guarded secret that the radical Islamist terrorist
organization Hezbollah has been primarily financed, funded, supplied,
and supported by the Iranian regime since the time of Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini and through the regime of Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Hosseini
Khameini.
The most recent president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad publicly stated
on numerous occasions that his goal was to wipe Israel off the map.
Continuing into 2013, the rhetoric espoused by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
and Iran's continued evasion and deception concerning its nuclear
program leaves Iran as a credible contender not just for nuclear
capability, but for nuclear weapons use.

Born out of the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in
1987, the radical, Islamist, terrorist organization Hamas operates
according to a covenant drafted and accepted by Hamas in 1988. The
existence of the Hamas organization serves to establish an Islamic
Palestinian State inside the country of Israel. Contained in the
Hamas document for operations are 23 articles that specifically call
for the demise of the State of Israel.

Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran: America's Greatest Hidden Threat
We documented our analysis of this situation in the book, "Hezbollah,
Hamas and Iran: America's Greatest Hidden Threat." The goal
of the book is to convince novice and expert readers alike that Iran's
nuclear program, facilitated by their relationships with terrorist
organizations Hezbollah and Hamas, is a strategic weapons plan for
the elimination of Israel as well as a threat to the U.S. presence
and interests in the Middle East.

Our book describes actual Islamist, Hamas assassination missions
that have been carried out by Hamas' military wing, commonly known
in the region as the Qassam Brigades.

The contents of our book illustrate that the (declassified) 2007
United States National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) entitled "Iran:
Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities," was significantly incorrect
and profoundly flawed in its methodology, its substantive analysis
and its conclusions. The authors of the report concluded that Islamic
Regime of Iran is unable to domestically produce a nuclear weapon.
However, our investigation and analysis draws very different conclusions
about Iran's continued clandestine pursuit of nuclear weapons capability
with respect to both devices and delivery systems.

The book documents Iran's international acquisition program as well
as Iran's domestic research and development programs for nuclear
weapons components, materials, and technology, including missile
delivery systems. There is overwhelming evidence of Iran's desire
to destroy Israel through nuclear enabled asymmetric terrorist operations.

It is our aim in this book to inform policy and decision makers
of the striking truths and stark realities that are ingrained into
the long term political DNA that dictates the operations of Hezbollah
and Hamas through their state sponsor, Iran. Sequential justice remains
to be served to Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas for their murderous terrorist
attacks, and continued targeting of American, Israeli, and Western
interests.

About the Authors
Philip Vos Fellman is a graduate of the Yale School of Management
and Cornell University. He was a long-time associate of former
Director of Central Intelligence William E. Colby and is the author
of over 150 publications in approximately eight fields, including
intelligence, international business and finance, applied mathematics
and quantum physics. Dr. Fellman is a well-known speaker on the
subject of modeling terrorist networks and has addressed NATO,
the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, The Military Applications
Society of INFORMS, The International Association of Electrical
and Electronic Engineers, the Academy of International Business,
The North American Association for Computation in the Social and
Organizational Sciences and several International Conferences on
Complex Systems.

Patrick R. Eller graduated in 2013 with honors from American Military
University with a M.A. degree in Intelligence Studies. Patrick earned
a B.A. degree from Valdosta State University in Political Science.
He has studied and taught in foreign universities. Patrick participated
in Russia Area studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, from the
Russian and Eastern European Institute (REEI); and immersion Russian
language studies in Indiana University's Summer Workshop in Slavic
and Eastern Eurasian Languages (SWSEEL). Patrick is a former US Marine.
He is a combat trained infantry machine gunner, and a former US Marine
Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team (FAST) member. Based upon Patrick's
skills and integrity, he was hand-picked by the Commandant of the
Marine Corps to participate in the activation of the new US Naval
Submarine Base, Kings Bay Georgia. When not conducting research on
asymmetric threats to American national security, Patrick enjoys
studying foreign languages and traveling.